Ciao!

Weeks go by and my time in the U.S. is getting closer to the end. That said,  I realized I have to make the most of my time during these last 7 weeks, which means even MORE travelling, activities, events, getting to know more people and just ENJOYING my time here.

Last weekend we were visiting one of the most famous cities, ”Paradise City,” in the U.S., LAS VEGAS! The next few pictures will summarize quite perfectly our whole weekend there.

Girls on the road!

The amazing view from our hotel’s (CircusCircus) window.

Friday was a party night.

Saturday, sight seeing. First stop was the Las Vegas sign. The flowers and candles are from the family of the victims of the Las Vegas shooting 10/1/2017. When I saw the sign I suddenly realized how horrible the world can sometimes be. Even though we were smiling in the picture, at the same time I felt really confused and worried about the whole incident. It isn’t fair. It. Just. Isn’t. I want to share my deepest compassion with all the people who were related to the victims of the shooting. We must stick together and care for each other. #prayforlasvegas

One trend that is totally Las Vegas style is the ”Las Vegas wedding”. There were wedding chapels basically around every corner. If you ever plan to make a spontaneous proposal, do it in Vegas. You can arrange a lovely wedding with Mr. Elvis as your master of ceremonies with only $199! (Yes, we checked the prices…)

Mandalay Bay Hotel

Beautiful fountains everywhere.

We also visited Egypt! Cleopatra was shopping at the moment so she couldn’t fit in to the picture.

Cute skyscrapers at the Monte Carlo near New York, New York.

New York was a cool place too.

One of my absolute favorite places in Vegas,  the amazing Bellagio Fountain.

And the Bellagio hotel itself.

Walking down the strip I really felt like I was on an exotic beach holiday. Palm trees were everywhere and sun was shining all day. It was about 86F (30C) during the whole weekend. Love. It.

I finally found my inner liberty.

The beautiful Botanical Garden, at the Bellagio Hotel. If you ever have a chance to visit Vegas you should definitely check this out. The theme of the garden changes every six weeks, so it will always match the season. The best part is that all the decorations are made with real flowers and plants.

Spoiler alert! You are now looking at the hotel where I’m going to go, next time I visit Vegas.  😉 Rome here we come!

Luxurious decoration in front of Ceasars Palace.

At the ground floor of Ceasar’s Palace. The ceiling looked like a beautiful night sky. I thought the decoration inside all the luxury hotels was pretty impressive. I also didn’t mind that they had shopping center with most of my favorite stores in almost every hotel we visited.

The Flamingo Hotel with, of course, flamingos. Bingo!

Fashion Show Shopping Mall. Try to guess how many hours I spent there. Yes, way too many. Fairly recommendable place I would say!

Saturday evening at the rooftop of Stratosphere building. What a view!

Downtown Las Vegas AKA Old Town. Where it all started…

I had to take a picture of this. We spotted the ”Heart Attack Grill” at Downtown and were amazed by the fact that if you weigh more than 350LBS (about 160kg) you can eat free! Omg! Can a restaurant be more American?

The wonderful Cosmopolitan Hotel. The whole lobby was covered with diamonds and high heel chairs where you could sit. That’s my style of a hotel.

Paris at night. C’est la vie!

A view from the strip. As you can see the streets were not even that crowded so I actually felt quite safe walking there in the middle of the night.

Bellagio at night. We arrived there just a little bit too late so we missed the last fountain show. Bummer! That will be my next task when I come back to Vegas.

Ceasar’s Palace with the lights.

The proof that we visited the Stratosphere Big Shot Ride. Basically it was a huge amusement ride on top of the Stratosphere, the highest building in Las Vegas. The ride shot us in the sky so it felt like we would keep on going all the way to the space. Yep, I screamed.

The last place we visited was the New York, New York roller-coaster, on Sunday. They had strictly forbidden all the cameras and cell phones on the roller-coaster so I couldn’t take any photos there. Anyways, it was also one of my favorite must-sees in Vegas. You could just sit on the roller-coaster while going upside down with the speed of light and be amazed by the wonderful view.

All in all our trip was a wonderful experience. I have to admit that I had some prejudices towards Las Vegas, because I had heard people saying that it’s not even that pretty or it is just too industrial, fake and artificial. I totally disagree. To be honest, Las Vegas is now one of my favorite cities of all!

I think the best thing about Las Vegas was that the people were so kind and I felt safe. Everywhere I went people were being so friendly, smiling, asking how I am doing and wishing me a lovely weekend. That felt nice.

So with these thoughts I want to wish you a lovely week and a great beginning for November! (I’ve got only 7 more weeks left here, eeeks!)

ThinkPink,

💖: Siiri

Hi, it’s me again!

The last two weeks have gone so fast that I haven’t been even able to keep you guys up-to-date about my ”adventures.” I managed to catch a cold on the weekend when we visited the Grand Canyon, which is why last week was quite tough for me (coughing, sneezing, sore throat, headache..). Nevertheless, I survived and NOW I’m back in business!

Let’s go through all of the most amazing things that happened to me during these last two weeks!

First of all, I got to teach my FIRST Group Fitness Class on Tuesday September 5th! Total Body Sculpt: boom! Even though I was only informed about the class just a few hours before it started, I was so ready for it! I got to wear my fancy ”NAU GROUP FITNESS INSTRUCTOR” shirt too.

Of course I was a bit nervous at first, but when I started instructing my class I really felt that I had finally found my place here. Home is where the heart is, right? I’ve already been joking with my friends that I’m basically living at the gym..:D Well, no matter where I am sports makes me always feel comfortable. That’s the thing.

On Wednesday, my friends (Tamara&Katharina)  and I went to try the super amazing tennis courts on campus. The best part is that they are all free! Thumbs up for the NAU activity possibilities. We made a deal with one of my exchange friends that we’ll go playing tennis every Wednesday during this fall semester. Be prepared that in December we’ll be invincible.  😉

Tuesdays and Thursdays are always the most physical days for me, as I have all my PE classes (excluding Group Fitness Training Course). The PE classes are mostly learning how to teach physical education in elementary school and how to put the theory into practice. We perform various practical activities and try out new teaching protocols and methods. I really enjoy it!

The Bootcamp Class is something else. Here’s one example. On Thursday, we had our Bootcamp Class at the NAU Dome, which is a huge football stadium. I arrived there quite early and had time to admire the amazing view before the class started. When I first saw the stairs and the bleachers I began to wonder if we were going to do some killer workouts there? Yes, you guessed it, we definitely did.

So, our workout was basically like this :

24 spider push-ups
24 running man sit-ups
24 shoulder taps in plank position
24 leg raises in plank position
24 side plank turns in star shape (lifting legs and arms in the air)

After core movements we had to run all the bleachers down and come back up: run the stairs down – > run up – > change row – > run down – > run up – > change row -> and so on

After finishing one round of the bleachers, you’d start the whole thing again, starting with the core workout. Meaning: DEATH.

However, I have to admit that I’m an extremely competitive person and also a little bit of a masochist when it comes to training (:D). If the instructor tells me to do as many laps as I can I will push myself 110% (and of course try to beat the others). Even though the real race is always in your own head, I personally think it’s more motivating to have a small competition with others. I don’t want to be arrogant at all, but guess who was the best? 😉 (5 laps all in all!)

Every time we have class our instructor is awesome. He surprises us with new challenging movement patterns and workouts that push everyone out of their comfort zones. With excellent technique and expertise he gives us plenty of options so that each and everyone of us is able to challenge themselves. Respect!

Another great activity we did this week happened on Saturday. That morning buses picked us up from campus and took us to the one of most wonderful places I’ve ever seen: the Grand Canyon!

When we arrived at the destination the weather was quite foggy, rainy and chilly. The fog was so thick we weren’t able to see the whole canyon or distinguish any colors properly.

Luckily within two hours after our arrival, the weather got brighter and the view was BREATHTAKING. It was just like a painting. Beautiful colors and regal rocks.

We were a bit extreme and climbed on the edge of the cliff, which was a ”DO NOT ENTER” – area. Even though I’m not so afraid of heights, I was literally shaking when we were taking photos there. The wind was strong and the elevation was hundreds of meters from the ground. The whole time I was thinking, ”what if I fall, what if I fall, what if…”.

Right after the trip I started to feel a little ill and on Sunday the flu eventually beat me. First, it was just innocent sneezing, but soon it turned out to be a terribly sore throat and probably a fever too. Next, I lost my voice completely. Great job. Tea was my go-to-remedy last week. (Btw Starbucks’ Green Tea Latte is the best! )

As I had mentioned in the earlier posts I do always have Fridays off, which means they are usually dedicated to some chilling and shopping. Flagstaff Mall is my true friend <3 I felt so horrible on Friday (because of the flu and tough week) that I needed a good amount of retail therapy. Pro tip: it always helps!

On Saturday, we had a lovely road trip to beautiful Lake Powell in Utah. As you can see in the picture the weather was just amazing, 30 degrees (Celsius) and the sun was shining all day. It was just like going for a beach holiday. I tried to absorb as much sun (vitamin D!) as I could, in order to prepare myself for the winter time.

Before we headed back to Flagstaff we went to watch the sunset on top of one wonderful attraction, Horseshoe Bend. You can see where it has gotten its name.

This was a perfect ending for the week. The people that I’ve met here are all amazing in their own authentic way. Again, I must say that I’m really lucky to hang out with lovely people like this.

I can’t believe it’s already been one month since I came to the U.S… time flies.

I wish you all an energetic week! Kisses&hugs!

Oh, almost forgot, Think Pink

💖: Siiri